SACRAMENTO- The Sacramento Hunger Coalition, a project of the Sacramento Housing Alliance that advocates for healthy food access, has organized a series of events next week to call attention to the various issues associated with poverty and hunger in the Sacramento region.
River City Food Bank will host the launch of Hunger Awareness Week with an important, expert-panel discussion on CalFresh, the California version of the federal, food stamp program.
CalFresh: A Program that Benefits the Hungry and Our Community as a Whole will be held May 20th from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at the River City Food Bank, 1800 28th Street, Sacramento, 95816.
“CalFresh helps millions of low-income Californians purchase food for their families, and is an economic stimulus for our state treasury,” says Eileen Thomas, Executive Director of the River City Food Bank. “The program benefits every Californian. So, it is very timely for the Sacramento Hunger Coalition to convene a group of anti-hunger activists to take action against recent developments at the Federal level that impede our efforts to reach potential CalFresh recipients.”
Experts on tap to discuss CalFresh will be Alexis Fernandez of California Food Policy Advocates; Dr. Zoey Goore of the Academy of Pediatrics – Chapter One; Jenny Dominguez of River City Food Bank and Rhonda Noller of the Sacramento County Department of Health Services (invited). Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Hansen will present a City of Sacramento Resolution honoring Hunger Awareness Week during the panel presentation.
Other Hunger Week events include Hunger Action Day at the Capitol, Wednesday, May 21 from 9:30 – 3:00, and on Thursday at Young Hall on the UC Davis campus, a special viewing of American Winter. A discussion afterwards will include the film’s director and Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor.
The mission of the Sacramento Hunger Coalition is to reduce hunger and malnutrition by increasing food security and access to healthy and nutritious food in Sacramento County through public education, advocacy, community organizing and grassroots advocacy research.
River City Food Bank is the oldest, continuously serving food bank in Sacramento and the only Sacramento-area food bank open every week day to anyone experiencing hunger from anywhere in Sacramento County. River City Food Bank offers a nutritionally-balanced 3-day emergency supply of food, and provides nutrition education, community referrals and compassionate assistance to people growing toward self-reliance throughout Sacramento County.
